Now that's my idea of funny. We had a whole bunch of those bouncy super balls in the gift shop at the time, and we'd freeze those, then watch them hit the ground with a "clack". We also used to freak people out by pouring it on our hands. You wouldn't want to cup it, of course, but if you just let it run off the back of your hand, the layer of evaporating nitrogen would insulate your skin from the stuff that was still liquid, and you'd be fine. Just no sustained contact!

Yeah, no sustained contact is right! I worked at a couple of places where we used a lot of LN2, and some of the pranks were hilarious . . . a few were dangerous. Most were of the using a banana for a hammer type, but once someone got the notion to freeze another guys wrench and put it on his bench while he wasn't looking. The guy picked it up and it stuck to his hand. A quick application of warm water and it came unstuck, but it could have hurt him.

This next one's a little tamer than some posted above (especially the BB one! Yowza!). My uncle used to live on a cul-de-sac in the late '70s and early '80s, and for July 4th he'd bring boxes and boxes of fireworks back from Mexico. One of the grand events of the evening was when he'd lay gun powder in a line from one side of the street to the other, then lay hundreds of firecrackers down with their fuses touching the powder. That was a fun one to see go off.

Blake

Was it black powder, or smokeless?

Contrary to what you see in the movies, black powder doesn't burn at a slow rate.

You've seen the scene in whatever generic western movie where the hero lays down a trail of black powder, leaves the keg at the end of it, goes back and lights the trail, and then has to run forward to rescue the girl, getting her out of peril and back to safety before the smoking trail of powder reaches the keg and blows up the bad guys.

It doesn't work that way! Black powder is an explosive. Smokeless powder is an accellerant. In other words, while smokeless burns relatively slowly in the open and fast when contained, black powder burns at pretty much the same rate either way. When he lights that trail of black powder, it's all over . . . RIGHT NOW! FssssstBOOM! Many's the time I've singed the hair on my arm demonstrating this. I always seem to have this weird idea that this time I can pull the match away fast enough. Some day I'm going to wise-up. But not yet . . . not yet.

Your Uncle sure sounds like a neat guy.

Ken V.

I have 2 friends who did the same but used a bit of garden hose instead of a paper. The explosion was far more intense than expected and Jason's parents easily heard it since they were just in the back yard. Needless to say they got into MAJOR trouble. At least Jason was smart enough to throw the thing instead of holding it like Rick dared him to (thinking it would be like a Roman candle).

Yeah, I hear ya. I have a good friend who had a large chunk of flesh taken out of his forearm from shrapnel in just such a stunt.

Things that go BOOM are lots of fun. As long as you don't go boom along with it. If you're going to goof around, at least goof safely.

Ken V.

:eek: That is one thing we didn't do!! we just shot each other with the BB guns instead. Never at the face though!! Usually at the ass for the total effect of hilarity.

Well, that's what they did in the cartoons, right? Shoot each other in the butt?

We never shot at each other though. A neighbor gave us a bunch of old golf balls and tees. We'd line the balls up on the tees and knock them off with BB's. We'd even make little side bets for candy bars and desserts.

FUN!

Ken V.

Now that's my idea of funny. We had a whole bunch of those bouncy super balls in the gift shop at the time, and we'd freeze those, then watch them hit the ground with a "clack".

Those pranks reminded me of one that one of my bud's pulled when we were working at Gurney's.

I don't know if you have ever heard of Cerro-bend or not, it's a metal alloy containing Bismuth. It looks like aluminum and has a melting point of about 150 degrees F. Terry took some of this metal and cast it into a beautiful tea-spoon. He left the "spoon" on top of the coffee counter at work one morning. Those of us who were in on it were gathered around the coffee pot waiting for someone to use the spoon. Well . . . someone did. He filled his mug with steaming hot coffee, picked up the spoon, leveled a couple tsp's of sugar into the cup and began to stir. MAN! You should have seen the look on his face when the stirring suddenly got easy and he saw that the bottom half of his spoon was gone.

Now THAT'S coffee!

Ken V.

I had to stop a minute and to think about what thread this is...did it start with things that go BOOM? No, it started with FPW's hysterical review of .... oh yes, "Fiend Without a Face!"

I had to stop a minute and to think about what thread this is...did it start with things that go BOOM? No, it started with FPW's hysterical review of .... oh yes, "Fiend Without a Face!"

I think it went astray with his mention of blowing up a nuclear reactor with four sticks of dynamite.

All mah fault Ahm a'feared.

Ken V.

I think it went astray with his mention of blowing up a nuclear reactor with four sticks of dynamite.

All mah fault Ahm a'feared.

Ken V.

Didn't he just blow up the control room? How would that stop the nuclear reaction?

I think it went astray with his mention of blowing up a nuclear reactor with four sticks of dynamite.

All mah fault Ahm a'feared.

Ken V.

Nah, nobody's fault. Wasn't it you who said somewhere that it's fun to see what unravels when you pull a thread?

I swear, that's one of the most fun parts of this board....watching threads go awry or astray or unravel. Very funny and the stuff of great psychoanalytical sessions. Written streams of consciousness from very bright, very creative people.

Uh oh.... (*cue the theme from TWILIGHT ZONE*)

Didn't he just blow up the control room? How would that stop the nuclear reaction?

I haven't seen the movie, but I suspect the authors didn't allow reality to intrude on the story. I guess it would make as much sense for 4 sticks of dynamite to blow up a control room and simultaneously shut down a nuclear reactor as it does for spinal cords/brains to crawl and JUMP! and try to attack people in the most fiendish way.

I gotta see this movie!

Nah, nobody's fault. Wasn't it you who said somewhere that it's fun to see what unravels when you pull a thread?

:o RATS! Seems my past is catching up with me.

I swear, that's one of the most fun parts of this board....watching threads go awry or astray or unravel. Very funny and the stuff of great psychoanalytical sessions. Written streams of consciousness from very bright, very creative people.

Uh oh.... (*cue the theme from TWILIGHT ZONE*)

Well, FPW did ask if anybody ever lived in a town that had a dynamite shack . . . and I did.

Ken V.